Reading Eggs Anyone?

I signed up Peanut for a five week free trial of Reading Eggs a few weeks ago (her free trial ends on Friday this week). YCJ also was able to get two free weeks of the same program at the same time. I want to say now that I am not affiliated with Reading Eggs nor are they compensating me at all for this review, I simply found a program that works and is affordable! 

A year long subscription to the sight for both girls would cost me about $103 (US). That's not just the reading though, there's a second program within the first called Math Seeds for working on your math skills. There's even part of the program (for children up to age 13, or advanced readers) called Reading Express! There are placement exams for all of the programs or you can begin at the beginning lesson and just go from there! Not only is this program awesome for Peanut, who is now five and working on learning to read, but it works well for YCJ, who has dyslexia and was enjoying the program and actually learning with it!

So... Here's a few things about Reading Eggs and Math Seeds you might like to know other than the pricing...

 *Pardon my screen shots they are not the best.* This is one of Peanut's letter lessons, if I'm correct the letter here was P. This is just one of the several parts of this lesson and they repeat the seek and find lesson twice, once with upper case and once with lower case letters so that the children see both.

Peanut is on the second map (there's a quiz at the end of each map before you pass to the next map and each map holds somewhere around 10 lessons). Since beginning the second map there has been more word recognition than before. In this lesson she was working on the word "am" (it's highlighted in the box at the top of the screen) and the goal here was to literally make a goal in the soccer net that had the word "am" above it. I believe that this was repeated about ten times.

This screen shot shows part of the playhouse activities. You can either enable or disable the playhouse section from the parents dashboard for your child's account. I simply set up a few rules that they couldn't go to this part of the program unless they had finished at least two lessons, or done one lesson twice. It is suggested by the way that each lesson be done about three times for maximum retention and learning. There are several different areas to the playroom, Peanut just likes using this part because she gets to play dress up.

This is one of the Math Seeds lessons on the number 7. In math seeds they not only do lessons on numbers, they do shapes, colors, and the word for that number as well. Each lesson is different and yet most have some of the same parts. This was a new thing that I had noticed with the rainbow paint, one for each of the seven colors.

This lesson shows a different aspect of the Math seeds program. This whole lesson (of which this was only one part) was centered around big and small. There was a section where they had to line up three objects from smallest to biggest and another section where they had to make two cakes; one with big ingredients and one with small ingredients. Peanut really liked this whole lesson.

I've delved into part of the school tab section of the main page and discovered that there are 80 hard copy books (half each for level one and level two) that are available for purchase and 8 activity books which has two pages each for the first 80 lessons of Reading Eggs. By hopping back over to the regular pricing tab (again on the main page) I find pricing for these books by packages for level 1, level 2, and the mega book pack that not only include the hard copy books and activity books but also stickers, mini posters, and flashcards with games! It is conceivable that if you were to subscribe one child ($69) for the year and purchase the Mega Book pack (which may last more than one year and costs $110) that you would have a complete Language arts curriculum (at least for early learners) for $179.  Writing itself is covered in the activity books! The Mega Book pack would be a wonderful investment even for one child, but if you have two children who will be using the first 80 lessons OR if you have children who are all younger and would be doing this in turns you'd certainly be making a wise investment. There would be the subscription per year fee (they do offer a six month subscription plan as well) but considering all that you gain by using this program I find it well worth it.

Reading Eggs is also iPad compatible (for iPads 2-4 with a minimum OS of 6.0) for all of those who would rather use your computer for yourself and an iPad for the younger children. It is also Android compatible for those of you with OS 4.1 Jelly Bean or higher.

There is also over 350 fiction and nonfiction books for their online library that your child is able to read (or have read to them) once they unlock the library section in Reading Eggs ... which happens fairly early on in the lessons. 

There's also a "My Program" section which unlocks after lesson 11 that allows for quick access, by your child, of not only their lessons but also four matching books to go with the lesson. Two fiction and two nonfiction. There's also spelling lessons then recommended for each lesson of the program your child is in tailored to what they've learned. And there's a small quiz after each book with helps you keep track of your child's comprehension of what they are reading/hearing with those books. There are also free activity sheets that you are able to print off at any time from the Parent's Dashboard. 

There is also a tell a friend option that not only gives your friend and their child a free two week trial but adds two weeks to your own child's subscription. There is a limit of 16 weeks for this.

Math Seeds, which is suitable for children ages 3-6, has a yearly subscription price of $49.95.

While Reading Express, which covers the years after you've "graduated" from Reading Eggs, has a yearly subscription cost of $75.

Neither Math Seeds nor Reading Express seems to currently have any offline material that you can purchase.

After speaking with a few of their customer service reps I have discovered that a homeschooler, or homeschool group, that has a tax ID number will get the school pricing and not the parent pricing if it is asked for. With that option you get both Reading Eggs and Reading Express access. 

We've tried several other programs in the past; K5 Learning, Time4Learning, and ABCMouse just to name a few. Not only do I find Reading Eggs to be the best program out there that we've tried but I find it to be one of the best priced as well and the only one that has tailored offline materials that you can purchase to go along with the online lessons.

I would never ever come to you and say that you should use this program if I myself haven't tried it out, had my children try it out, or if I haven't researched it. I was NOT compensated for this review in any way shape or form. This is a product I believe in and one that we will be subscribing to not only for Peanut but for YCJ as well. YCJ, my reluctant reader with dyslexia, literally bounces up and down when talking about Reading Eggs and requests to work on it even on days we're not officially doing school. That in itself is testimony enough for me on how well this product works. ECJ has watched his sisters learning from across the room and been so excited for them with this program. He's 12 folks, even he sees how well this is working for them.

I am not saying that you should rush out and try it right this minute just because I say so. Go to the link at the top of the post and sign up for your free trial, check it out, and if it's for you then follow through and subscribe if you can. You've nothing to loose from this it's 14 days given to you freely to check out a wonderful program that you too may just fall in love with.

Linking this to: Squishable Baby 

and Hot Homeschool Blog Hop 

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